Ross is in tune with the ‘Wizard’

“I HAVE the attention span of a mildly stunned goldfish,” joked Queensburgh based musician, Ross Tapson, who boasts a performance with Uriah Heep’s Ken Hensley.

Tapson has been making music for most of his life.

He first set his eyes on musical instruments when his family moved from a farm in Zimbabwe to the “bright lights” of Fort Beaufort and he was hooked.

“When I was small, I loved the way guitars looked. We moved to a tiny town in the Eastern Cape – seriously tiny; while I was there they got their first traffic light which was very exciting stuff. Anyway, there was a music shop there that had actual electric guitars! They looked like something out of Star Trek.

“I’ve been making music for nearly 30 years – it’s something you can get really preoccupied with. I’ve played just about every genre I can think of, and a couple I’d prefer not to,” said the accomplished singer, songwriter and musician.

The Queensburgh based musician readily admitted to often doing too many projects at once. Blaming his short attention span, he explained that he tends to get involved with several projects at any given time.

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“Right now I’m putting together some instrumental music to showcase the guitars I’m using – I’m endorsed by an incredibly cool Durban-based luthier called Alain Smith, who makes the most remarkable and playable guitars and bass guitars.

“I have a body of original work that I take out and dust off every so often with a band called Ross Tapson And The Remnant. I’m part of a very fine, hard-working trio called Templar Funk, with whom I’ve played all over the country. We have a wide repertoire, but we prefer audacious material, like The Brothers Johnson, Led Zeppelin and Kansas. We also form the core of a project called In The Flesh, where we do tribute shows.”

He said playing tributes to the musicians who played the soundtrack to his youth is what makes being a musician so much fun.

“The most fun tribute show thus far was a tribute to the music of Pink Floyd. We had eight musicians on stage, which made it quite challenging, logistically!”

In addition to all his own work, and some rather geeking IT and coding work he also does to earn his keep, Tapson said the opportunity to perform with other musicians makes his soul sing.

“The high point of my career was when I got to perform with Ken Hensley, founder member of Uriah Heep. We did some classic Heep material, and some songs I’d written and co-written. The ‘Wizard’ played and sang my songs! It was breathtaking, I felt like I was 16 years old all over again.”

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